Singaporean mum leaves twin babies in the car

"To my horror, I had actually left the keys in the car, along with my two baby boys!"

In addition to only taking a split of a second for something to go wrong, you should never leave your child alone in the car because: It is scary for a child to be left alone.

We have all read about cases in other countries of kids being left in the car either by accident or on purpose, which resulted in fatal endings. In less severe cases, kids can suffer a heatstroke or hyperthermia.

A car's temperature can change quickly (it can become too hot or too cold in minutes). So even if you just intend to leave your child in there for a few seconds, think again.

Now what happens when you accidentally lock your keys in the car, along with your 2-year-old twin babies? Most of us think we're incapable of making such a horrible mistake. So did the parent in this story.

Leanne, a 32-year-old insurance agent and mummy to twin boys shares with us what happened on that unfateful day...

As a mum of twins, I have to admit that I can be a little too lenient with my parenting techniques, especially since I'm an insurance agent- being an insurance agent, I've adopted the skill of multi-tasking.

But... I can't say that I'm good at it.

Some days I can be typing a proposal while feeding one of my boys and still manage to look like a super mum while on the other days, I can be seen not finishing my sentences on the phone while getting dinner ready.

But I do ensure that my boys get the best, no matter where they are, no matter what it takes on my part. And I'm thankful that throughout their whole two years of life nothing bad has resulted from my parenting skills.

Until about two weeks ago, at least.

My husband Jai was out of town with his parents on a weekend trip so I was tasked with running all of the weekend errands with my two boys in tow. Handling twins on your own is hard enough but picture me going grocery shopping, paying the bills and handling last minute client meetings with them- needless to say, it was a hectic weekend.

We are not blessed with having the help of a maid at home. My parents offered help but I had to turn them down because if I had left my boys with them, they would have had to cancel their weekly volunteering at the community centre. And that was something they always looked forward to.

And so I started the day early, knowing fully well that I would take more time than usual with the babies around.

I made sure to get everything sorted and well-planned out. From their milk bottles and snacks to their meal times. "Everything is going to be okay", I kept repeating to myself. That had become my mantra for the day.

Before I knew it, it was already noon and nothing had gone wrong. The boys didn't kick up any fuss about moving around with me and things were going surprisingly smoothly.

We were on our way to meet my client (who was being a mum herself and totally okay with me bringing the boys along) when I realised that I didn't have any cash on me.

Being an insurance agent, taking clients out for coffee or tea was a norm. And at that time, the chip on my credit card was acting up, so having cash with my was mandatory! (I made a mental note to myself to get my card replaced at soon as possible).

I decided to stop by an ATM and quickly withdraw some cash, which I assumed would only take a few minutes and that it would be alright to leave the kids in the car for a bit. They were soundly asleep at that point.

I knew at the back of my head that it's not encouraged to leave kids in the car alone and I was aware of the dangers that came with that.

What did mummy do? Click next to find out...

I looked at my kids, both in deep slumber. With them being twins, it will be terribly difficult to have to wake them both up, pull out the stroller, settle them into it and go withdraw some cash. "This will only take me 5 minutes, max," I told myself. I thought I'd do everything in a jiffy and head back really quick.

And with that selfish thought in my head, I dashed out of the car and jumped into the queue. There was only one person in front of me so I felt even better. This would take no time at all.

Well, I was wrong.

The lady in front of me actually forgot her pin number and had her card stuck in the machine. So the machine was then out of order.

I decided to head back to the car and just head to another ATM nearby instead.

Walking back to my sedan, I then realised (to my horror) that I had actually left the keys in the car, along with my two baby boys!

I went beserk. I woke my boys up by knocking on the windows to check if they were okay. Seeing how scared I was, they started crying loudly and kicking wildly in their seats. The commotion started to attract the attention of people around me.

Someone called the ambulance while a few men tried to force open the door of my car. They resorted to calling a car mechanic right away as we had no time to spare. It hit me how dangerous the situation was. And I was to be blamed for it. What was I thinking?

Thankfully, with their assistance and a lot of cranking open the door by the mechanic, it finally unlocked. I got my twins out of their car seats and I hugged them so tight and apologised profusely.

I am thankful to God that nothing worse happened and will never repeat this mistake again. Ever!

(Story as told to Pavin Chopra)

Mummies, have you left your kids in the car? Share your thoughts with us!